Today is Friday, June 2, 2023, the beginning of Pride Month events throughout the month. I will write at some point about this commemoration since it appears that the LGBTQ+ community is now being put on the defensive by those on the far right in ways unimaginable just several years ago.

I missed this space yesterday because I was attending one of the first performances of a new Broadway “thriller” with my Astoria friend “Seth,” after having dinner at the always-perky but noisy Ellen’s Stardust Diner, on Broadway and 51st Street. I really had no interest in seeing this play originally, but my friend insisted I see it with him on June 1. He had even mentioned going to see it on my cross-country trip when I couldn’t commit to going with him which was too early for me at the time to convey my seriousness in going. I told him that I wasn’t even sure I would come home in one piece – it was a very long trip, with so many miles driven across country. That’s why I was a little hesitant to commit. When we did return unscathed from the long journey, Seth asked me again two days after we returned. This time I reluctantly agreed to see it with him – for the reasonable price of $51 through the auspices of the Theater Development Fund, of which we are both members of. Now that we’ve seen the play which has no intermission, I can say I should have backed out of agreeing to seeing it with him. I thought the play overall was terrible, frankly. I’ll give a synopsis of it – if I can – for you to digest and maybe you can be the judge of whether it’s good or not.

From the onset, the play concerns the misadventures of two strangers, Max (Claire Karen) and Henry (Paul Sparks), who wreck their car on a requisitely dark and snowy mountain road after Max serves to avoid hitting a deer. She hits the deer anyway, and as a result, the accident leaves Henry with a mangled ankle. So the two strangers come across this “grey house” that is complete with four strange girls and one adult, played by Laura Metcalf as their “sometime” mother, Raleigh. Metcalf looks frightening as ever in a stringy salt-and-pepper wig. The four daughters and one mute boy range from the spooky Marlow (Sophia Anne Caruso), an ethereal deaf girl named Bernie (Millicent Simmonds), Squirrel (Colby Kipnes), and the strangely named fourth girl, A16556 (Alyssa Emily Marvin) wh0 translates for Bernie. Into this strange mix intrude the two strangers who were driving to the wife’s late father’s house to clean his house out, from what I can recall. What transpires after the couple is taken out by this strange brood is unfathomable. I found the dialogue out of sorts and very disjointed. I wasn’t sure if the girls were vampires or witches, possibly. I was certainly never shocked by what came towards the end that sort of explained the inexplicable happenings occurring in this grey house.

I did experience a truly shocking coda to watching the play, however, when I discovered that my cell phone was missing from my pocket on the way out. This was the real terror of the evening; I immediately recruited several ushers in trying to recover my phone. My friend suggested calling my number, but I told him it wouldn’t help since I turned it off. So one usher used her flashlight to assist me; however, I myself was able to locate my phone sitting in a crevice between two seats. What probably happened here is that I never inserted the device into my right shorts pocket; it probably fell out and lodged in the crevice the whole evening. Luckily, I discovered the lost device early enough. I hadn’t left the theater yet without the phone. Again, this incident was the real horror of the evening, without question. I’m so relieved that I was able to find the damn phone.

It’s late here, as Elliot and I were entertaining our neighbor and sometime new acquaintance, “Darcy,” after having dinner with her at a local Chinese restaurant on Austin Street, Spicy C, and inviting her up to the apartment for some liquid refreshment and cookies. So she left sometime after 9, I believe.

Today President Joe Biden delivered his first-ever Oval Office address where he declared bipartisanship alive and well. As an indication of this, he pointed to the compromise measure that raises the federal borrowing limit and avoids a catastrophic default as evidence that his sometimes-mocked views of Washington are not a thing of the past. This Friday evening event is covered by Kevin Liptak for CNN in an article entitled “Biden addresses nation after avoiding catastrophic default: ‘The stakes could not have been higher.'”

Biden addressed the nation from behind the Resolute Desk, encouraging Americans to “treat each other with dignity and respect” and to “stop shouting.” He pronounced the package he negotiated with Republicans as a package that avoids crisis.

The President also vowed to continue working toward priorities that were omitted from the bipartisan package – including raising taxes on the wealthy – in an implicit reelection message.

In his speech, Biden said, “I know bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard, but we can never stop trying, because like moments like this one, the ones we just faced where the American economy and the world economy is at risk of collapsing, there is no other way.”

Biden began his evening address by underscoring his efforts to work across the aisle to secure a positive outcome – an objective he noted had been met with intense skepticism. The President admitted that neither Republicans nor Democrats “got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed.”

Despite the bill’s passage, the legislation known as the Bipartisan Budget Agreement had detractors on both the left and right. Many liberals and conservatives voted against it, and the most right-wing lawmakers have raised the prospect of trying to oust McCarthy from his leadership role for what they say were insufficient spending cuts. He won’t be missed if he is ousted.

“Democratic critics have voiced outrage at the new work requirements added to the bill, though an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed the measure would likely keep the number of Americans on food stamps at roughly the same levels.” The bill lifted work requirements for veterans and those experiencing homelessness.

Others have also voiced concern over the approval included in the bill of a natural gas pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia that helps Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. Biden and his aides have argued they were successfully able to stave off the most extreme repugnican positions to arrive at a bill that ultimately avoided economic disaster. Biden declared, “Nothing would have been more catastrophic” than a default. And there were many right-wing repugnicans who heralded a default – those bastards.

Thank God we avoided default then. We have the President to thank, and, by golly, even House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, that spineless Dumpf lackey.

Have a good weekend.

Here are two glorious rainbows in the sky that could be a symbolic signal for Pride Month. You don’t have to believe this if you don’t want to.

Here they are again over a church. Do you see the symbolism here?

Here’s another bright rainbow in the sky over the Kennedy House near us.